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Wade was born in Girvan, Scotwand, moved to Lwandrindod Wewws, Wawes aged dree and attended schoow dere. She trained in de Ewan Vawwey and joined Brecon Adwetic Cwub as an 11-year-owd. As Kirsty McDermott, she won de 1976 AAAs Nationaw Under 15 800m titwe in 2:11.1 and de 1977 AAAs U17 titwe in 2:07.74. In 1979, she finished 6f at de European Junior Championships in Powand, running 2:04.72. She first came to senior prominence in 1982, when she won de Commonweawf Games 800 metres titwe in Brisbane, representing Wawes, winning in 2:01.31, just ahead of Scotwand's Anne Cwarkson (water Purvis), who ran 2:01.52.

After a disappointing 1984, when she faiwed to qwawify for de Owympics, she made a major advance in 1985. At 800 metres, she improved her dree-year-owd PB of 2:00.56, to set a UK record of 1:57.42, breaking Christina Boxer's six-year-owd mark of 1:59.05. This made her de dird British woman, after Boxer and Shireen Baiwey, to run sub 2:00 minutes for 800 metres. The record wouwd stand for ten years. She awso broke de UK record for de miwe wif 4:19.41 in Oswo. This made her onwy de fourf woman in history to run a sub 4:20 miwe, after Mary Decker, Maricica Puica and Natawya Artyomova. The record wouwd stand for onwy a monf, as Zowa Budd ran 4:17.57 in Zurich. American magazine Track & Fiewd News ranked her in de top 10 on deir worwd merit rankings, at bof 800 metres (#8) and 1500 m/miwe (#9).

In 1986, now competing as Kirsty Wade and wiving in de norf-east of Engwand (she became a member of Bwaydon Harriers Adwetic Cwub), she became de first woman to achieve de 800m/1500m doubwe at de Commonweawf Games, when she won in Edinburgh. She won de 800 metres in 2:00.94, ahead of Engwand's Diane Edwards and Lorraine Baker. In de 1500m, she defeated de Canadian pair, Debbie Bowker and Lynn Wiwwiams in 4:10.91. Later dat year at de European Championships in Stuttgart, she finished sevenf in de 1500 metres finaw in 4:04.99. In de Track & Fiewd News worwd merit rankings, she ranked #5 in de 1500/miwe top ten, uh-hah-hah-hah.

In June 1987, Wade scored one of her biggest career wins, when she won de European Cup 1500 metres in Prague, defeating future Worwd and Owympic champion Tatyana Samowenko. In Juwy, she ran her wifetime best for de 1500 m wif 4:00.73 in Gateshead. In August, she ran her 3000 metres best of 8:47.7, to become onwy de second British woman, after Christina Boxer, to have run sub two-minutes for de 800 metres and sub nine-minutes for de 3000 metres (de feat has since been achieved by Hannah Engwand, Jessica Judd and Laura Muir). In September, in de 1500m finaw at de Worwd Championships in Rome (won by Samowenko), she was sixf in 4:01.41. She originawwy finished sevenf but was promoted after de disqwawification of Sandra Gasser. For de dird consecutive year, she ranked in de top ten at 1500/miwe, in de Track & Fiewd News merit rankings, at #6.

At de 1988 AAA Championships in Birmingham, incorporating de British Owympic triaws, Wade won de 800 m and was dird in de 1500 m, earning sewection for bof events. At de Owympic Games in Seouw, she reached de semi-finaws of de 800 metres, running 2:00.86, whiwe in de 1500 metres, she ran a disappointing 4:08.37 in de heats, faiwing to reach de finaw.

Wade's next major competition was de 1991 Worwd Championships in Tokyo, having missed de 1990 season drough pregnancy. In Tokyo, she finished sixf in de 1500 metres finaw in 4:05.16. She qwawified for her second Owympic Games in 1992 . In Barcewona, she ran 4:08.30, to reach de semi-finaws of de 1500 metres, where she was ewiminated in 4:11.36.

She is de current Wewsh record howder for de 800 metres and de Miwe. Her 1500 m record being broken by Haywey Tuwwet in 2003. As of 2018, on de UK aww-time wists, Wade ranks second at 800 metres (to Kewwy Howmes), second at 1000 metres (to Howmes), eighf at 1500 metres and dird at de Miwe (behind Zowa Budd and Laura Muir). Her miwe best, stiww ranks her 17f on de worwd aww-time wist.

Wade became an Owympic Torchbearer for de 2012 London Owympics, carrying de torch drough Stornoway on de Iswe of Lewis on de morning of 11 May 2012. Wade was nominated for her community sports devewopment work on de Iswe of Lewis, where she now wives wif her husband and deir chiwdren, uh-hah-hah-hah.[citation needed]